CaptainYowza
Recruit
- Joined
- Feb 13, 2009
- Messages
- 4
How in the name of foot-long chili dogs does one get the main nozzle out of the carb? Got the two jets out fine, but all I can do with the nozzle is push down the protruding top in the carb throat. The only solution I can think of is to shoot compressed air in the right place while covering up other right places, but there's gotta be a better way. Cursing at it certainly didn't work. It's properly soaking now, fully disassembled exceptin' fer the nozzle.
And here's the baffling one....first some history on the motor.
It was bought new, broken in properly, and used a handful of times before sitting for many years. Dad gave it to me, I did routine maintenance (carb kit, fuel pump, impeller) and have now run her happily for 2 years on a spiffy, unique 1957 15' Crestliner ("Ward Cleaver's Wet Dream"). Great motor, when warm it would start with a gentle 4" tug on the rope.
Last week, way back in the swamp (of course) at Caddo Lake, TX, I all of a sudden had half a motor and she smelled rich. I knew it was bad spark quickly. However, I could often coax, eventually, normal performance by feeling for the right moment and then busting thru with the throttle. Hard to describe.
Back at home lake got similar results and a timing light confirmed good spark on one cable and intermittent (no spark - irregular spark - normal spark) spark on the other. Since I love spare parts and the motor is about 20 years old, I had no qualms about replacing the ignition system on a motor I got for free. If the thing peters out on us at the wrong moment, we can end up deader than fried chicken (Houston Ship Channel, etc.). There's nothing like doing the Elmer Fudd Yank when a container ship is bearing down on you. And, I've seen enough bad coils that looked fine on a multimeter to not trust amateur testing all that much.
After carefully checking over everything on the near-pristine motor (she's just now finished the original gallon of oil), I replaced the exciter, CD unit, and the right NGKs. The exciter wires near the assembly were strangely "gooey", but it otherwise appeared unremarkable.To my astonishment, I got the same intermittent spark and harder starts on the hose in the driveway. Like with the carb nozzle, cursing at it helped none.
Did an obligatory compression test and results were as expected - 53 psi each (spec = 57). Buttoned her back up and she ran perfectly, still on the hose. Timing light normal both cables. Yeah, it's an intermittent problem, but after it began it always sparked poorly at idle speed. I'd have to get her running a bit, then catch the sweet spot to get it firing right and a smooth ride back to the dock would result.
So, I'm hopeful about the normal idle on the hose, but we're hitting the salty stuff next week and I really need to get this ironed out. After I get the carb back on I'll do another driveway test and a lake test Friday, but for now does anyone have a clue what the problem might be? My jaw about hit the floor when the ignition system replacement didn't set things right, and the apparent improvement after the compression test has my brow furrowed even more.
The only thing I can think of is to check for a nice, clean, paint-free ground. Otherwise I'm stumped. Even if the problem does not return, I'm baffled as to why it wouldn't run right for a half-hour amid a bunch of tinkering and head-scratching after the parts replacement, then it's suddenly find after compression testing.
The world sure is a big pain in the hindquarters sometimes.
And here's the baffling one....first some history on the motor.
It was bought new, broken in properly, and used a handful of times before sitting for many years. Dad gave it to me, I did routine maintenance (carb kit, fuel pump, impeller) and have now run her happily for 2 years on a spiffy, unique 1957 15' Crestliner ("Ward Cleaver's Wet Dream"). Great motor, when warm it would start with a gentle 4" tug on the rope.
Last week, way back in the swamp (of course) at Caddo Lake, TX, I all of a sudden had half a motor and she smelled rich. I knew it was bad spark quickly. However, I could often coax, eventually, normal performance by feeling for the right moment and then busting thru with the throttle. Hard to describe.
Back at home lake got similar results and a timing light confirmed good spark on one cable and intermittent (no spark - irregular spark - normal spark) spark on the other. Since I love spare parts and the motor is about 20 years old, I had no qualms about replacing the ignition system on a motor I got for free. If the thing peters out on us at the wrong moment, we can end up deader than fried chicken (Houston Ship Channel, etc.). There's nothing like doing the Elmer Fudd Yank when a container ship is bearing down on you. And, I've seen enough bad coils that looked fine on a multimeter to not trust amateur testing all that much.
After carefully checking over everything on the near-pristine motor (she's just now finished the original gallon of oil), I replaced the exciter, CD unit, and the right NGKs. The exciter wires near the assembly were strangely "gooey", but it otherwise appeared unremarkable.To my astonishment, I got the same intermittent spark and harder starts on the hose in the driveway. Like with the carb nozzle, cursing at it helped none.
Did an obligatory compression test and results were as expected - 53 psi each (spec = 57). Buttoned her back up and she ran perfectly, still on the hose. Timing light normal both cables. Yeah, it's an intermittent problem, but after it began it always sparked poorly at idle speed. I'd have to get her running a bit, then catch the sweet spot to get it firing right and a smooth ride back to the dock would result.
So, I'm hopeful about the normal idle on the hose, but we're hitting the salty stuff next week and I really need to get this ironed out. After I get the carb back on I'll do another driveway test and a lake test Friday, but for now does anyone have a clue what the problem might be? My jaw about hit the floor when the ignition system replacement didn't set things right, and the apparent improvement after the compression test has my brow furrowed even more.
The only thing I can think of is to check for a nice, clean, paint-free ground. Otherwise I'm stumped. Even if the problem does not return, I'm baffled as to why it wouldn't run right for a half-hour amid a bunch of tinkering and head-scratching after the parts replacement, then it's suddenly find after compression testing.
The world sure is a big pain in the hindquarters sometimes.
